The Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD) held a march in Amed (Diyarbakir) last Friday to demand the implementation of the “right to hope.” After the march, letters were sent to the Ministry of Justice, parliamentary commissions and the Speaker of Parliament calling for the implementation of the “right to hope.”
Zeynep Karayilan, Co-Chair of the Amed Branch of the ÖHD, spoke to ANF about the “right to hope”.
ECtHR ruling must be implemented
Zeynep Karayilan emphasized that the “right to hope” ruling issued by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding Abdullah Öcalan must be implemented and said: “There is a ‘right to hope’ judgment delivered by the European Court of Human Rights in 2014 concerning Mr. Öcalan. This ruling clearly established that maintaining the execution regime of prisoners sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment until death constitutes uninterrupted torture.
Turkey is obliged to introduce legal amendments on this matter. However, despite the past decade, no steps have been taken, and it has even been explicitly declared in the action plan submitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe that no changes would be made.
From the perspective of positive law, these decisions are binding and must be implemented without reservation. Ensuring the physical freedom of Mr. Öcalan, who is the chief negotiator of the Kurdish question, and enabling him to work freely is the most fundamental requirement of the process.”
Call to legal organizations
Zeynep Karayilan said: “We have so far organized many panels and conferences and voiced these truths in parliamentary commissions. Now, as lawyers, we are taking to the streets under the slogan ‘Implement the right to hope ruling.’
We call on all bar associations and legal organizations to stand with us in this human rights struggle. Let it not be forgotten that the right to hope is not a privilege, but a universal human right.”
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